


i know i feel something when i see you

by Jellybean96



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Arguing, Confessions, Confrontations, Dani took a page out of Malcolm's book, F/M, Getting Together, Gil ships it, Malcolm's not happy about it, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 11:07:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24349993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jellybean96/pseuds/Jellybean96
Summary: They're at the hospital. Not for him, though. Dani's the one who's been admitted this time and he's the one waiting by her bedside.
Relationships: Malcolm Bright/Dani Powell
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	i know i feel something when i see you

**Author's Note:**

> Hey babes! Got a new one for ya! This one was very fun to write and was inspired by a little convo I had over on Tumblr. So stoked about getting a second season and all the possible Brightwell crumbs we're gonna get. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

They're at the hospital. Not for him, though. Dani's the one who's been admitted this time and he's the one waiting by her bedside this time. She's sleeping, but the doctor said she's going to be okay, just probably a little sore for a while. And she's going to have a cast on her wrist for some time, too, since she banged it up pretty bad during the case. A case that led them to a guy who was pretty out of it.

Of course, Malcolm did his usual thing of confronting the guy and trying to talk him down from whatever proverbial ledge he was on. But of course, things don't always go as planned and the man knocked him out.

But he didn't stay down for long. He'd managed to wake up in time to see Dani taking a page out of his book, unfortunately. He doesn't know what possessed her to do it. They hadn't even managed to get the guy in the end and Dani had gotten injured in the process. Hence the hospital visit.

Thankfully, it doesn't take too long for Dani to wake up, slightly dazed because of the pain medication they have her on. She looks around before her eyes land on him. "Hi."

"Hi. How are you feeling?" he asks her.

She shrugs, carefully pushing herself up on her uninjured hand so she's sitting up more and then tugs the blanket up a little higher. "Okay, I guess. I got knocked around pretty bad, right?"

He nods. "Yeah. You did. And the guy got away. So, you know, we're all trying to find him again. Why would you do something like that?" He tries to keep his voice level, to keep his tone even. But it doesn't help.

Dani raises a brow at him. "Are you seriously mad at me right now for doing exactly what you did and always do?"

He shakes his head quickly. "No, of course not." He lets out a huff of air. "I'm just...I don't understand why you would do that. Do you know how risky doing something like that is?"

"Oh, so you can run into random buildings after psycho killers but I can't?"

"Yes, exactly."

Her eyes narrow at him. "Well last I checked, you're not my boss. You're a consultant, you don't get to tell me what I can and can't do while on a case. You got knocked down, so I went after him."

"But you shouldn't have," he says, his hands gesturing wildly as he steps closer to her bedside. "You shouldn't have gone in there like that without a plan."

"You never go in without a plan," she counters. "You're at just as much of a risk as I am of something happening to you but it never seems to stop you from running in without thinking."

He shakes his head, running one hand through his hair as his knees hit the edge of Dani's hospital bed. "No, I have a plan. I always have a plan. Just not always beforehand. I usually come up with it as I'm doing it. You...you can't do that. You need to have a plan before you go in, okay? It's different with me. I'm a bit more expendable than you are. If something happens to me, that's fine. It doesn't matter if I—"

He's cut off from his rambling by a sudden tugging on the front of his shirt, and then a pair of lips are on his. _Dani's lips_ are on his. For a split second, he doesn't know how to react. But then natural human instinct kicks in and he's kissing her back. He has one hand resting on the mattress to prop himself up, and the other finds itself on the back of her neck, her curls brushing against his skin.

The kiss ends just as quickly as it started. She basically pushes him away, releasing the hold on his shirt. He stares down at her slightly swollen lips, clocks the way her breathing is labored. He wouldn't be surprised if he matches her look.

He takes a small step back from the bed, fixing the front of his shirt. He opens his mouth to say something when he's cut off, yet again. But this time by the sound of his phone ringing.

He pulls the device out to look at the caller id. He quickly answers the call and holds the phone up to his ear. "Gil, hi."

"Hey, kid. How's she doing?"

He glances at Dani before turning away again. "She's good. She's awake now."

"That's good. Can you come down to the precinct? Got something I need you to take a look at."

"Yeah, okay. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Alright. See you soon."

He ends the call and slides the phone back into his pocket, turning to face Dani again. He can see her looking anywhere but at him. "I, uh, that was Gil. He needs me to look at something about the case."

She just nods silently, focusing her attention anywhere but on him.

"I'll uh...I'll see you later. Get some rest." He tosses her a small smile as he leaves, unaware if she actually looked up to see it. He needs to focus on the case at hand. He can talk to Dani later after she's released from the hospital.

.

.

.

Dani's released from the hospital later that same day and the first place she goes is the precinct, despite the entire team's insistence once she gets there that she goes home to rest. She tells them repeatedly that she's fine, but Malcolm can sense something lying underneath that. He just doesn't know what it is. And he knows she doesn't like it when he profiles her.

He works up the courage a couple of times to talk to her like he told himself he would, but every time he tries to, he gets called on to do something for the case. So he promises himself that he'll talk to her within the next couple of days.

Only he doesn't get the chance because they all throw themselves into the case to find their killer. Again. He tries to go about the days as normally as he would, but he can't get the memory of the way Dani's lips felt against his out of his mind. He thinks about her beautiful curls, and how it felt to have them simply brush against his hand, and how great it might feel to have his hand tangled in them instead.

His memories distract him whenever he and Dani are in the same room, so he actively looks away from her whenever he can. He's not entirely sure, but he has a strong feeling that she looks away from him too if she doesn't have to be.

"Powell, you and Bright head back over to the sister, see if she can shed any more light on where this guy might have disappeared to."

"Dani doesn't need my help," he says immediately, watching out of the corner of his eye as Dani stands from her desk and grabs her jacket off the back of the chair. He casts a quick glance at her and then returns to looking at Gil. "She's just questioning the sister, it doesn't require two people."

"He's right," Dani says. "I got this one."

Gil shakes his head. "No, I want you both going. There's not a problem with that, is there?" he asks, one brow raised at them.

"Uh, no," Dani says, her lips pulled in tight. "No problem."

"Good. Now go."

He locks eyes with Dani but she quickly looks away from him, pulling her jacket on and moving toward the precinct's exit. He jogs after her, slowing down when he reaches her side. He wants to say something, but there's a strange tension in the air and he chooses instead to keep his mouth shut.

The car ride is awkward. To say the least. Dani flips the radio on, an unusual move since they usually chat idly about whatever they can think of. But not this time, apparently. They've become better friends in the time that they've worked together, and he misses talking to her. He craves it, to be completely honest. She's always honest and blunt in her answers whenever he asks her something. She doesn't hold back or sugar coat things. He likes that. It's rare when someone is like that with him, especially after knowing about his father and about his many health issues. She also makes him genuinely smile and laugh, and he never wants that to stop.

When they reach their destination, the questioning goes about as well as it could given the circumstances. They'll both start to ask a question at the same, usually the same exact question, and so they have to stop. This happens only a couple of times before he makes the executive decision to step back and let Dani take the lead. She is the actual detective after all. And he's just a consultant. So he takes to just observing the place again while Dani asks all the questions.

And then they're on their way back to the precinct. The car ride back goes about the same as it did on their way out.

Gil pulls him aside as soon as Dani has finished relaying what little information they got from the sister. The older man practically drags him into his office, closing the door behind them. "You wanna tell me what's going on, kid?"

"I...don't know what you're talking about."

Gil shakes his head. "No, don't give me that crap. Something's going on between you and Dani and it's affecting your work."

His eyes go wide for a split second, thinking that Gil somehow found out what happened at the hospital. But he couldn't have. No one knows about that except for himself and Dani.

He plasters a polite smile on his face. "Nothing's wrong. I promise. We're just having an off day today; we're a little out of sync." It's not a complete lie. They were definitely out of sync today. He's just not going to tell Gil why. Not until he has a chance to talk to Dani about it first. If she even wants to talk about it.

"You're sure that's all it is?" Gil asks him.

He nods. "Absolutely. Just a little out of sync."

.

.

.

"Hey, Dani, can we talk now?" he asks when he sees her sitting at her desk at the end of the day. They'd thankfully managed to find their killer earlier but then there was the arrest process and all the paperwork to fill out, and packing up all the case material into boxes. By this point in the night, most everyone has filtered out, leaving only him, Dani, Gil, and a few other uniformed officers.

She looks up from her computer and he can see the lingering frustration on her face from having to type one-handed because of her cast. "Talk about what?"

"About what happened at the hospital the other day. We haven't had the chance to do so yet."

She shakes her head, standing from her desk and walking toward another area of the precinct. "We don't need to talk about it."

"I think we do," he responds, following behind her.

"We don't," she practically snaps, her back still to him. "It was just a spur of the moment impulse. It didn't mean anything."

He stops walking and frowns, his heart sinking a little. "It meant something to me."

She stops walking then, slowly turning around to face him. "It did?"

He nods. "Yes. It did. I know you say that it was a spur of the moment impulse and it meant nothing to you, and that's fine, but I needed you to know what it meant to me. You're one of my best friends, Dani, and I don't want to ruin our friendship because I really like it, but I needed you to know."

"Know what?" she asks quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"How I feel about you."

She sucks in a sharp breath. It's almost inaudible, but he hears it. And he sees it, the way her body jolts a little with the breath.

He swallows thickly, wringing his hands together. "I like you, Dani. A lot. When you kissed me, I think I realized exactly how much I like you, and how much I want to kiss you again. Because I really do. But I understand if you don't feel the same way and were really just caught up in things. I hope this won't make things weird between us now."

She's quiet for a long moment, watching him. He squirms a little under her gaze. "Do it."

His brows furrow together. "Sorry, what?"

She shrugs, taking a few steps closer to him. "You said you want to kiss me again. So do it."

He sputters. "But...I...you...you said…"

She nods. "I know what I said." She levels him with a particular gaze that has a shiver running down his spine involuntarily. She's giving him the tiniest hint of a smile, but it's a smile he's never seen directed at him before.

He takes a deep breath as he closes the space between them, grabbing her hips and tilting his head up just enough so that his lips can reach hers. He holds on to her, pulling her closer as his hands find their way to her lower back and settle there.

He internally begins to panic when she doesn't respond. But then she kisses him back and his fears melt away instantly. Her arms wrap around his neck, keeping him close, and he can feel her smile widening against his lips.

He reluctantly pulls away and smiles at her. "I've been wanting to do that since the hospital. I really like you, Dani."

"I really like you too. It's hard for me to let people in, you know that. But somehow…somehow you worked your way inside my heart without me even realizing. That kiss at the hospital meant something to me too, but I didn't want to ruin our friendship either. It means too much to me." She shrugs. "But I guess I can't really help how I feel about you."

"Guess not." He smiles, letting out the tiniest laugh, not quite believing what's actually happening. He has an amazing woman in his arms, a woman he just kissed for the second time, and she actually has romantic feelings for him. And as a bonus, he knows that she isn't put off by all the things of his past or all the things he suffers through. He never thought he'd be this lucky in life.

"Do you...do you want to go grab dinner?"

She tilts her head with a smile, one of her hands playing gently with the hairs at the nape of his neck. "That's sweet. But I know you're not much of an eater."

"So we can go to my place," he suggests with a small shrug. "I can cook and if I don't actually eat anything, no one's there to question it or berate me for it."

"That actually sounds nice. And hey"—she gently grabs his chin in one of her hands so they're looking right at each other—"you're not expendable. Do you hear me? You are very much a part of this team and I know for a fact I wouldn't handle it well if something happened to you."

"Really?"

She nods, releasing his chin and looping the arm back around his neck. "Yeah, really. Now let's go. I'm hungry and I think you promised me a home-cooked meal."

He smiles and nods. "That I did."

She returns his smile and leans forward to give him a quick, chaste kiss. Then she unloops her arms from his neck and reaches down to grab one of his hands in her uninjured one, lacing their fingers together.

His smile widens at the gesture and he looks up at her. But he doesn't exactly know what to say.

She just snorts in quiet laughter and shakes her head, leading him out into the bullpen. It's nearly vacant, save for a few straggling officers.

Neither of them pays the officers any mind as they move to Dani's desk so she can gather up her things. He frowns a little when she lets go of his hand so she can get her belongings. But then he's smiling again when she returns her hand to his, giving it a small squeeze as she pulls him along toward the exit.

Unbeknownst to the both of them, Gil watches from the window of his office as they leave together, a pleased smile on his face that the two of them finally figured out what he's known for a while. A very long while.

**Author's Note:**

> So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


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